Zoo Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia:  In the heart of Atlanta lies a hidden gem, Zoo Atlanta.  The urban zoo packs a serious punch in a little space, making the most of their little chunk of Grant Park.  It is most popular as being one of just four zoos in the nation to house Giant Pandas on loan from the People's Republic of China.

A journey to Zoo Atlanta begins in Flamingo Plaza.  The park is laid out fairly easy to navigate, however it can be a little overwhelming looking at the park map.  We chose a left hand pattern and began our tour in the African Plains.

The African Plains are home to a pride of African Lions.  They have both a indoor and outdoor viewing area.  During our visit, the lions were best seen from the outdoor area as they were mostly on top of the rock. This area is also home to elephants, rhinos, zebra, giraffes and many more.  However during our trip, there was inclement weather on the horizon so many of the animals were off exhibit.

The next region of the zoo is the African Rain Forest.  This is home to a family favorite and very popular resident, the gorillas.  Zoo Atlanta boasts the largest gorilla exhibit in the nation and have birthed nineteen gorillas since opening the exhibit in 1988.  The gorillas live in five groups spanning 1.5 acres,

At the edge of the African Rain Forest is the newest attraction to Zoo Atlanta, the Amphibian and Reptile Experience.  This was not here during our last visit and it is a great new edition.  It features the slimy and scaly zoo residents.  Here you will find the snakes, lizards, gators and more.

After you leave the African Rain Forest, you enter into the Asian Forest.  Here you come face to face with some more popular zoo animals including the Tiger, Orangutans and the Giant Pandas.  Lun Lun and Yang Yang are the parent pandas.  They have had five offspring at Zoo Atlanta.  Three of them have already been returned to China.  Remaining at Zoo Atlanta are the twins Mei Huan and Mei Lun, born at the zoo in July of 2013.

The final part of the zoo is the Kid Zone.  This area features kids rides, a playground, splash fountain and other smaller animal exhibits and the petting zoo.  Unfortunately, this area hasn't really been explored that much by us on either one of our visits as our son is too old to have any interest here.

This has been our second visit to Zoo Atlanta and I can't wait to come back again.   It has a lot of great exhibits at a great price.

Here is a collection of photos we took during our trip to Zoo Atlanta..

Zoo Atlanta

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